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Sauce

Tomato Catsup

A thick tomato sauce seasoned with salt, pepper, cloves, cinnamon, allspice, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Tomato Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine the strained tomatoes, salt, black pepper, cloves, cinnamon, allspice, and vinegar in a large pot.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat.

  3. Simmer until the mixture has reduced by half.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Strained tomatoes
Form the bulk and body of the ketchup, thickening as the liquid reduces.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that brightens the flavour and helps preserve the sauce.
Black pepper
Contributes a sharp, pungent warmth that rounds out the spice blend.
Ground cloves
Adds a strong, warm aroma that defines the ketchup's spiced character.
Ground cinnamon
Adds sweet, woody warmth that complements the tomato's acidity.
Allspice
Contributes a warm, clove-like aroma that deepens the spiced flavour.

The step that matters

Simmering until reduced by half. Long simmering evaporates water and concentrates the tomato solids and sugars, which thickens the sauce. Too little reduction leaves it thin, while too much heat or a thin pot can scorch the bottom and give a burnt taste, so stir and keep the heat gentle.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, clove, cinnamon, allspice, vinegar):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Horseradishfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, clove, cinnamon, allspice, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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